Why Install A Marshmallow ROM?

There used to be massive changes in every new version of Android. The visual jump from 2.3 Gingerbread to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was enormous — but the changes since then have been more incremental and behind the scenes.

As Google has pulled more and more of the features out of the operating system itself and released them as apps, the version of Android you’re running has become less important than apps you have installed. As such, you couldn’t be blamed for not seeing much difference between 5.1 Lollipop and 6.0 Marshmallow.

But the differences are there. Google Now on Tap is a pretty awesome new feature that you’ll only find in Marshmallow. It allows Google to quickly scan your screen to guess what you want to search for, without you even having to type or say anything.

Why Resurrection Remix?

So you’ve decided to make the leap to Marshmallow, but now you’re inundated with options. I can’t tell you which ROM is the best for you, but Resurrection Remix has definitely been the best for me — for a few reasons.

1. So Many Customizations

Seriously. This is the main reason I flash custom ROMs; I’m just never satisfied with the level of customization offered on stock ROMs. Unfortunately, I hit the same barrier in most builds of CyanogenMod and other popular ROMs that choose a simple, non-bloated route over a feature-packed one. Resurrection Remix hits a nice sweet spot, though.

It has the usual customizations that you would expect for the Status bar, Notification drawer, and Quick Settings panel. You can basically tweak these however you want, down to the very icons that appear in the status bar and what color they are. Add custom headers to your notification drawer, add or remove the weather, and so much more. My favorite is the ability to double-tap-to-sleep on the status bar.

Since this is the OnePlus One, you’re able to choose between using on-screen software keys or the physical capacitive keys, and Resurrection Remix has options for both. It has a simple navbar editor for moving around buttons and adding as many as you want. You can set double-tap and long-press options as well.

If you want other ways to quickly navigate your smartphone, you have access to Gesture Anywhere and App circle bar. Gesture Anywhere allows you to program certain gestures to open apps or perform actions, while App circle bar lets you swipe in from the side of the screen to quickly access a ring of apps.

The lock screen can also be customized, from displaying currently playing media, to blurring out your current screen, to double-tap-to-sleep.

Your Recents menu can be customized to have a search bar or a clear-all button. And if you don’t like the classic view, you can also switch to Slim Recents or OmniSwitch.

2. Battery Life

I have no complaints in this department. I wouldn’t say that it’s gotten any better from my old Lollipop ROM, but it’s about equivalent. I easily make it through any average day with battery to spare. If I use it a lot, I can probably expect about 4 hours of on-screen time before it calls it quits.

3. Stability

I have yet to have a single app force close, and I haven’t experienced a random reboot either. At least for me, this ROM seems to be super stable and has been working amazingly well as my daily driver.

I found this pretty impressive, especially considering these are still basically nightlies. Marshmallow on the OnePlus One hasn’t quite yet gotten to the official stable point, but you wouldn’t know that by using this ROM.

If you don’t have a OnePlus One, don’t worry, the Resurrection Remix team actually supports several other devices too. Take a look on their website to see if your device is supported. You’ll need to know your device’s codename for this (for instance, the OnePlus One is known as “bacon” and the Nexus 6P is known as “angler”). If you don’t know your device’s codename, I suggest searching for it in the XDA Developers Forum.

To do this, boot into your current recovery by either holding the power button, selecting Reboot, and then selecting Recovery — or by powering off your device and holding the power and volume down keys as you power it back on. Find the Flash or Install option, locate twrp-2.8.6.0-bacon.img and install it. Then reboot into recovery again.

What’s Your Favorite Marshmallow ROM?

You’ve gotten a pretty thorough look at my favorite Marshmallow ROM, but now I’m curious about yours. Have you tried Resurrection Remix or any other major custom ROM? Let us know your experience down in the comments!

Ok obviously the OTA update is just a tedious process of downloading the latest version of the rom, going thru the whole wipe and reinstall process again. I installed the rom on may 11, and by may 13 there's already an update. This is going to be a huge pain if I have to go thru this every few days... Am I missing something here?

I have been googling for an hour, and I cannot find instructions on how to UPDATE this rom once you have it installed. I followed your instructions, but apparently I did not download the latest version because immediately my phone notified me of a new version which I downloaded. This took almost 30 mins, and when I clicked on it from my pull down notification bar, the file disappeared, and now I don't know how to update this ROM. Please advise if you can. I'm new at this, and I can't understand why on the developer's own website, he doesn't have the latest version available. Ridiculous.